Claudio Castagnoli wins ROH World title at Death Before Dishonor

Claudio Castagnoli is the ROH World Champion.

Castagnoli defeated Jonathan Gresham to win the title for the first time in the opening match of Saturday’s Death Before Dishonor. The finish came when Castagnoli pinned Gresham with the Ricola bomb. After the match, confetti fell as Castagnoli celebrated his first world title win.

During the Death Before Dishonor Zero Hour pre-show, Prince Nana revealed that he had bought Tully Blanchard Enterprises and was in Gresham’s corner during the match. However, he didn’t interfere.

Gresham had been champion for 225 days, defeating Jay Lethal for the vacant title at ROH Final Battle back in December. He was originally set to face Bandido, but Bandido was unable to make the show due to testing positive for COVID. Gresham, who carried the original ROH World title, and Bandido, who carried the most recent ROH World title design, met to unify both titles at ROH Supercard of Honor in April. Gresham defeated Bandido for both titles.